The Misericordia University men's basketball team never trailed as the defeated Manhattanville, 91-71, Saturday at the Anderson Center. It was the squad's fourth straight victory and their second consecutive win over a conference opponent. 

Jason Kenny led the Cougars with 26 points while adding seven rebounds, three assists and a steal. The senior guard shot 8-12 (66.7 percent) from the field and made 10-11 from the free throw line. Kenny leads the MAC Freedom with 21.3 points per game.

Alec Rodway and Tony Harding each contributed with 14 points. A senior point guard, Rodway shot a perfect 6-6 from the field and tallied a game-high 26 plus/minus. Harding made two threes and added four rebounds with a block.

Noah Rivera and Justin Iton had 10 points for the Cougars. Rivera collected his second double-double of the season with 10 rebounds while Iton grabbed five rebounds and shot 2-2 from the foul line.

Misericordia controlled the pace early and got off to a fast start with a 7-0 run to open the game.

Following a Valiant turnover on the game's first possession, the Cougars answered with an alley-oop from Kenny to Iton for the game's first bucket. Kenny fed his center with a lob from beyond the three-point line while Iton made a baseline cut and finished above the rim.

Stone McCreary added a three-pointer and Iton hit a jumper in the paint on the Cougars following two possessions, which forced Manhattanville to burn an early timeout.

Minutes later, Rodway gave Misericordia their largest lead of the first half with a three-pointer from the wing to expand their lead to 10 points with 14:30 to play in the opening set.

Manhattanville stormed back with a 10-1 rally to cut the Cougars' lead to one point. However, Misericordia never surrendered the lead as they carried a four point advantage into halftime.

The Cougars began to pull away early in the second half. After Rodway missed two of three free throw attempts on the team's second possession, the senior guard came away with a steal on the defensive end and went coast-to-coast for a fast break layup.

Rodway's bucket sparked a 9-0 Misericordia run to start the second. Kenny added four points on consecutive possessions and Harding scored a fast break layup to put the Cougars up 52-39.

Misericordia cruised to victory, outscoring the Valiants 48-32 in the second half. The Cougars dominated the battle down-low with a 52-34 advantage in the paint. Misericordia scored 30 of its 48 second half points in the paint.

Sean Smith Jr. led the Valiants with 32 points and seven rebounds. The sophomore is second in the MAC Freedom in scoring (20.6 PPG) behind Kenny.

Misericordia improved to 9-6 overall and 2-2 in the MAC Freedom while Manhattanville dropped to 7-8 overall with a 1-3 conference mark. The Cougars will play at Eastern, Wednesday at 6:00.